Why Can’t Your Local Police Arrest Scammers?

A Law Enforcement Analysis

A SCARSSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS. Insight

Why Can’t Police Arrest Transnational Scammers? Treaties!

Previously published 2018

The Process Of Arresting Criminals Outside Of Your Country Is Complicated

Let’s Start With A Few Basic Facts!

Some scammers are local, and these are treated as local crimes. Regardless of which country you live in, local criminals are investigated and arrested all the time!

Almost every local police department has a “Bunko Squad” to investigate and apprehend con artists, fraudsters, and scammers in your local communities or country. Cops do a good job (generally) of keeping local scamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. under control.

However, 95% (or more) of all online scams originate from another country, and this is where it gets VERY tricky.

When you want to arrest a criminalCriminal A criminal is any person who through a decision or act engages in a crime. This can be complicated, as many people break laws unknowingly, however, in our context, it is a person who makes a decision to engage in unlawful acts or to place themselves with others who do this. A criminal always has the ability to decide not to break the law, or if they initially engage in crime to stop doing it, but instead continues. in another country and then return them to your country for trial this has to be done by an “Extradition” treaty, and even then the local courts have to agree with the extradition. As we have seen in the case of the African countries, they are not very willing to extradite scammers to stand trial in another country.

Of course, the victim could go to the African country and file criminal complaints against the scammerScammer A Scammer or Fraudster is someone that engages in deception to obtain money or achieve another objective. They are criminals that attempt to deceive a victim into sending more or performing some other activity that benefits the scammer., but this is rarely effective.

1. It is extremely dangerous to the victim physically.
2. The local police are totally corrupt and will ignore the victim.

The victim can bribe the local police but this can either result in the loss of their money or have them be arrested for bribery. Either way, the victim loses even more.

Let’s Talk About Extradition

Extradition is the act by one jurisdiction of delivering a person who has been accused of committing a crime in another jurisdiction or has been convicted of a crime in that other jurisdiction – into the custody of a law enforcement agency of that other jurisdiction. (When we say “jurisdiction,” think “country”)

It is a cooperative law enforcement process between the two countries and depends on the arrangements made between them. This means that they have to have a “TREATY” in place for this to happen, and that treaty needs to include the specific types of crimes covered.

If a country does not have an extradition treaty in place then criminals are completely safe. For example, Costa Rica does NOT have an extradition treaty with most other countries – so it is a criminal haven.

Besides the legal aspects of the process, extradition also involves the physical transfer of custody of the person being extradited to the legal authority of the requesting country.

Through the extradition process, one country typically makes a formal request to another country where they believe the criminal is living or hiding. If the criminal (fugitive) is found within the territory of the other country, then the requesting country may ask that they arrest the fugitive and subject him or her to its extradition process. The extradition procedures are dependent on the law and practice of the country where the criminal is found.

This involves a court process usually, and it is not certain that their local courts will even agree with a treaty, It is totally voluntary.

Between countries, extradition is normally regulated by treaties. Where extradition is compelled by laws, such as among countries, the concept may be known more generally as rendition.

Proper Identity

One of the first problems is determining the proper identity of a scammer. Most victims do not know the proper identity of a scammer. They have names and sometimes more information, but that is just the information the victim was given, and usually, more investigation is needed to either confirm the identity of the scammer or discover their real identity.

Just because the victim has the name of someone picking up money does not mean that it is a scammer or even a real person. Scammers have “Moles” at the money transfer agencies, and it is up to the agent to confirm identity or not. The entire money transfer system in Africa is corrupted by scammers.

Confirming A Crime Suitable For Extradition

In many African countries scamming is really not much of a crime. After all, the victim voluntarily sent their money to a scammer. They really don’t view this as a crime or not a serious crime.

Only when U.S. or European Law Enforcement goes directly to the country involved can they obtain the cooperation of the local African Country. Unfortunately, this is both expensive and very time-consuming, and law enforcement rarely will take these steps.

Summary

The result is that a critical lack of resources and a weak system of treaties allow most scammers to get away with it. But the great news is that scammers are being arrested:

• 2019 : 111,000+ scammers arrested worldwide

• 2020 : 80,000+ scammers arrested worldwide

• 2021 :  Estimated to be over 100,000+ scammer arrests

Some countries have moved forward seriously in their commitment:

• The United States is now arresting dozens of scammers a week (on average)
• The EU & EuropolEuropol The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, better known under the name Europol, formerly the European Police Office and Europol Drugs Unit, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU) formed in 1998 to handle criminal intelligence and combat serious international organized crime and terrorism through cooperation between competent authorities of EU member states. The Agency has no executive powers, and its officials are not entitled to arrest suspects or act without prior approval from authorities in the member states. Based in The Hague, it comprised 1,065 staff as of 2016. WEBSITE LINK is aggressively arresting hundreds of scammers at a time
• Nigeria’s EFCCEFCC Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud), scams, and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which named Nigeria as one of 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight money laundering. The agency has its head office in Abuja, Nigeria. is going to reach record levels of arrests by the end of 2021
• The EFCC has started to share information that results in arrests in the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, and Benin.
• Countries around the world are taking cybercrimeCybercrime Cybercrime is a crime related to technology, computers, and the Internet. Typical cybercrime are performed by a computer against a computer, or by a hacker using software to attack computers or networks. seriously now!
• China is the world leader in scammer arrests for scammers operating inside the PRC

Only by changing these treaties will we be able to more effectively enforce our laws against global online crime. Changing treaties is a complicated process and requires the approval of both countries involved. However, it is possible, and by pressuring politicians this process can be moved forward.

Reporting

However, it is important to always report scammers, since this alerts other potential victims AND allows law enforcement to place them on “Watch Lists”. These watch lists allow for the arrest of the scammer when they cross an international border! So please always report scammers on this website or on www.Anyscam.com and to your local law enforcement.